15Jun2018 Market Close: Wall Street Edges Lower On Renewed Trade Jitters, WTI Crude Price Drop To Mid 64 Handle, DOW Closes Down 85 Points, China Vowed To Respond With Hefty Tariffs

Trump sets $50 billion in China tariffs with Beijing ready to strike back

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump announced hefty tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports on Friday as Beijing threatened to respond in kind, in a move that looks set to ignite a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Wall Street edges lower on renewed trade jitters, oil price drop

(Reuters) – Wall Street stocks were down marginally on Friday after the United States announced hefty tariffs on Chinese imports and China vowed to respond in kind, stoking investor worries over an escalating tit-for-tat trade dispute.

U.S. trade tariffs push industrials, materials stocks lower

(Reuters) – Shares in U.S. industrial and materials companies were under pressure on Friday on escalating trade tensions between the United States and China after President Donald Trump announced tariffs on China, which said it would fight back.

Trump tariffs a rounding error for U.S. economy so far, that may change

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s new trade tariffs will lop at most a couple of tenths of a percentage point off U.S. growth and add a similar amount to inflation, small fry for a $19 trillion economy that is experiencing its second longest economic expansion on record.

Qualcomm-NXP deal still waiting for China nod: sources

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China is yet to approve U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc’s proposed $44 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors , three people close to the talks said, dismissing an earlier media report that said Beijing had already greenlit the deal.

Comcast gains unconditional EU antitrust approval to buy Sky

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU antitrust regulators have given the green light to U.S. cable company Comcast’s plan to acquire European pay-TV group Sky without demanding concessions.

Boeing says assessing possible impact of U.S. tariffs on products

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chicago-based planemaker Boeing Co said it is assessing the possible impacts of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and any reciprocal action it could trigger on the manufacturer’s supply chain and commercial business.

Saudi Arabia plans leaders’ summit this year for OPEC, allies: sources

DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia plans to host a leaders’ oil summit later this year for OPEC and non-OPEC countries participating in a supply cut pact, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Sprint, T-Mobile plan to file deal application to FCC on Monday

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Wireless companies Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US Inc have informed the Federal Communications Commission that they will formally file an application asking for approval to merge on Monday, according to a document seen by Reuters.

Dovish Draghi Dominates Powell As Dollar Spike Wreaks Global Havoc

That was a week…

Total chaos in FX, debt, and commodity markets and the S&P 500 ends unchanged?!!

The Dow ended the week red, S&P was manipulated perfectly to unchanged, and Trannies and Nasdaq led the surge…

From The Fed’s rate-hike, Dow and S&P are red…

New Normal? Paris Puts Massive Bulletproof Walls Around Eiffel Tower To Combat Potential Terrorist Attacks

Authored by Gabrielle Okun via The Daily Caller,

Paris is putting bulletproof walls around the Eiffel Tower to combat potential terrorist attacks as part of a project unveiled by city officials Thursday.

A barrier will be placed around the famous Parisian attraction in order to shield it from possible terror threats, according to the New York Post. The 10-foot panels are 2.36 inches thick, and there will be 450 in total on the northern and southern parts of the Eiffel Tower.

“There’s F**king No One Else”; DNC Strategist Laments Over Broken Party; “Bill Clinton Toxic, Carter Too Old”

Following a Monday report that President Obama is “secretly” meeting with top Democratic contenders for the 2020 election, The Hill notes that desperate Democrats beset with Clinton fatigue are freaking out over the fact that the much “blue wave” appears to be crashing on the rocks, and there’s nobody around to salvage the party ahead of midterms and the 2020 election.

“There’s f—ing no one else,” one frustrated Democratic strategist said. “Bill Clinton is toxic, [former President] Carter is too old, and there’s no one else around for miles.” -The Hill

Is This The Real Reason Behind Elon Musk’s Conference Call Meltdown

In the aftermath of Vertical Group’s controversial report in which analyst Gordon Johnson calculated the Model 3 cancellation rate was a disastrous 66%, following a tide of client requests for additional clarification, the outspoken contrarian analyst (whose $93PT on TSLA is the lowest on the street), has released a follow up report in which he highlighted the following key dates and comments:

1. 8/1/17 – Following 2Q17 results (i.e., August 2017), Elon Musk noted that TSLA had 518K in Model 3 reservations, with cancellations of 63K, or net reservations of 455K (link);

   11/1/17 – After 3Q17 results, TSLA did not provide a detailed Model 3 reservation figure, but instead told investors that “global reservations continued to grow significantly” (link); and

   5/2/18 – In the 1Q18 earnings press release, Model 3 reservations were stated to “exceed 450K at the end of Q1” (link).

So, Johnson explains, if on 8/1/17, net reservations for Model 3 cars were 455K, then on 11/1/17 “global reservations continued to grow significantly” according to Tesla, yet on 5/2/18 net reservations were still just 455K cars (including 10K cars delivered through the end of 1Q18), that means over roughly a 10-month period new reservations were essentially flat, or 0 vs. TSLA’s target to produce 5,000 cars/week.

This would represent a big shortage of demand vs. supply on its ow …

Goodbye ECB Bond-Buying, Hello Forward Guidance

The ECB hasn’t finished surprising investors yet. Thursday it brought the end of its massive bond-buying program closer, but pushed any interest-rate increases further out. The more dovish message won, sending the euro sinking against the dollar.

Big Tech Already Has the Best Show in Town

Tech companies have shown they don’t need to own large media agencies to establish a strong presence in the business.

Apple’s Display Plan Won’t Give Screen Makers Much Relief

The iPhone maker is delaying its full transition to a new screen technology, but that won’t help most Asian manufacturers for long.

Key Words: Trump said he wishes his people would respond to him like North Korea’s Kim

President Donald Trump on Friday continued to warmly describe the regime of Kim Jong-un after meeting the totalitarian North Korean leader to discuss nuclear disarmament.

Trump Today: President says he won’t sign immigration bill without border-wall funding

President Donald Trump said Friday he won’t sign an immigration bill that doesn’t fund a border wall, as he told journalists a Justice Department report showed “total bias” against him and announced tariffs on China.

The Moneyist: My fiancé postponed our wedding, secretly bought a house—and told me I could pay rent

They were due to get married on April 18, but he delayed the wedding and bought a house instead.